


Disconnected

by Darvyn



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, Light Bondage, M/M, Multi, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Praise Kink, Virtual Reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 07:43:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20224282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darvyn/pseuds/Darvyn
Summary: Dirk has a good job, pays his taxes, is a good human citizen. Then why does he feel so out of touch?





	Disconnected

**Author's Note:**

  * For [butthulu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/butthulu/gifts).

* * *

It's not exactly the most normal life. 

To be fair the definition of ‘normal’ is dubious at best when referring to a world that is a complicated patchwork quilt of Earthen and Alien life.

It wasn't always like this, apparently. There was a time when the mere thought of aliens coming to Earth was entirely contained within speculative fiction. But no matter, the point is that humans and all life on Earth is now cohabitating with grey skinned, rainbow blooded, bipedal bugs from space.

At least that’s what makes the most sense. They hatch from eggs that come from a _ giant bug _ that hides out in a deep underground cavern. One doesn’t even have to look at their behavior through the lens of an entomologist to see that they are rather similar to insects during their early life. They refer to their spawn as _ grubs _ for goodness’ sake.

Even so, their presence has been mostly beneficial. At least that’s what the older humans like to say. Humans and trolls alike born into this hybrid society don’t bother speculating about the benefits since they know nothing else. Liver-spotted hands gesticulate wildly, describing a time _ before _. Brittle voices tinged with nostalgia as they talk about before the Trolls came, before Alternian became the most popular language in the world, before the leaps and bounds in medical technology. 

Before, before, _ before _.

Dirk adamantly refuses to think about _ before _. Not that the after is absolutely flawless or anything, but at least the technology is better than where is would have been if the Trolls never fell out of the sky.

Okay that’s a little petty. They didn’t fall so much as arrive on giant ships in a mass exodus of their previous planet because of a genocidal, tyrannical, _ almost _ immortal leader.

But that’s beside the point. We’re talking about the _ after _. 

Dirk cannot even fathom himself standing on his two feet and his heart still traitorously pounding away in his chest cavity if it weren’t for the advanced technology at his disposal today. Working with robots and artificial intelligence prototypes feels so _ right _ , that there’s what feels like an anxious hum of electricity in the back of his mind at the mere _ thought _ of not being able to get his hands on it on a daily basis.

Which is where he finds himself today. Hands carefully buried in the chassis of his newest android as he moves an extremely powerful and volatile energy core into the empty cavity. The core buzzes against his fingers quietly as it slides into its new home. Dirk prods at it to make sure that it stays in place before withdrawing his hands. He swipes the back of his hand across his forehead, both to wipe away the sweat and a few stray hairs that were tickling his nose while his hands were occupied.

Dirk starts to flip some switches on the desk beside him with one hand and closes the lid of the chest cavity with the other. The metal body in front of him starts to whir and hum as the energy core starts to power on all the components within. 

He yawns and stretches his neck out as he performs a few more activation sequences. The android sits up and articulates all of its newly activated joints. Dirk pushes himself around the worktable in his rolling ergonomic chair, taking in every angle of the android’s endoskeleton.

Mentally nodding to himself, Dirk’s fingers fly across the augmented reality keyboard that he calls up. With an imperceptibly small grimace he runs his own personal command code for the android.

A small hiss comes from the other side of the room as the pressurized container containing the android’s new skin (and fluids_ ) _ of the client’s choice opens.

Most people that build custom-designed androids revel in the part where they can make the android an _ android _ . The technology for artificial skin has never been better. Just a small technological leap developed by an indigo blooded troll a couple years back. Small artificial vessels that can ferry blood, making that which isn’t alive so much closer to reality, androids that can blush, bruise, and _ bleed _.

That isn’t Dirk’s cup of whatever. He’s not a tea drinker, he’s more of a ‘let me down two cans of orange flavored energy drink in less than a minute’. His cup is the android’s ‘personality’. Or brain, as some like to call it.

Dirk is known for creating some of the best artificial intelligences in the _ world _. In a world marbled with an incredibly technologically advanced alien race, it’s pretty impressive. Would be even more impressive if he actually let anyone know that. It’s okay though, the clients that seek out his services drop enough credits to keep him comfortable.

But before he can upload the android’s new, and honestly quite _ exceptional _ brain, the program of his own design gets to work. It’s something he hastily cobbled together with shaking hands that were scrubbed red and raw, bitter acid in the back of his throat, at two in the morning after installing the skin and fluids of his first commissioned android.

He can lie to himself, say that it’s simply because he wants to avoid contaminating the product as much as possible, leave that task up to the client. But Dirk knows himself, as some would say _ uncomfortably _well. He sometimes suspects that his ability to create such realistic artificial intelligence stems from him being able to grasp the complexities of his own brain so thoroughly.

Once again, that’s beside the point. The point is--

“You know you’re gonna have to get over it one of these days.”

Dirk sighs and rubs at his eyes under his glasses, “I know.” He spins his chair away from the android ‘dressing’ itself to look at the silhouetted figure standing in the doorway of his lab.

“A young brown blooded troll, huh. Is the client a high blooded troll with a power fantasy?” The figure doesn’t move, deathly still.

Dirk shrugs nonchalantly, but he can feel pinpricks of unease as he hears the artificial blood being pumped into the skin. He wipes non-existent grime off on his threadbare tank top and yawns, but not before he manages to ask the figure if they did anything fun today.

At this the figure finally moves out of the shadows, an ungraceful shrug crosses their shoulders as they step forward and speak. 

“Yes?” They pause. “I mean, yeah. I guess. It’s just not particularly fair that you still haven’t given me a body that can be used for the sexuality that you decided to program into me.”

The face of the figure is twisted into a small pout that could almost be interpreted as cute, but to Dirk it just looks bratty. Also doesn’t help that the face is a spitting image of his own when he was sixteen, but the auto-responder was insistent on living as a ‘proper’ teenager for a few years, despite being a near identical replica of Dirk’s twenty-two year old brain.

“You--”

“_ Need to become my own person _ ,” he’s cut off by an irritated and mocking tone. “Is that the bullshit you were about to spoon feed me again, like I’m some sort of geriatric baby?” Dirk watches the auto-responder march over to the android that is currently gently affixing egg shaped horns onto its skull. “Why give me _ mental _ autonomy if you weren’t ever gonna give me _ physical _autonomy!?”

Dirk’s teenaged face twists in anger as he points at the android accusingly, “Why not make me as dumb as these fucking _ dolls _?”

The chair rolls away from Dirk as he stands up suddenly, the artificial intelligence that he so carefully and agonizingly crafted housed within the superficial replica of himself stops.

“I was going to say,” Dirk speaks with an even, almost cold tone, “_ You _. Need. A. Name.”

He scoffs bitterly, “What, did you get tired of mentally calling me your ‘doppelganger’ or ‘AR’?”

Dirk rolls his eyes, he knows AR can see it through the retinal display of his glasses. 

He sighs and leans against his desk, “It’s been two years...”

AR’s head snaps to attention, fingers twitching with what could be misconstrued as nerves, but Dirk knows that the body is an older model, the technology hasn’t been top of the line for nearly five years. 

“I think you’ve been socialized enough. You’ve gone and properly Invader Zimmed--No, Lilo and Stiched your way into the hearts and bloodpushers of humans and trolls alike.” Dirk fiddles with a stapler as he continues, “After I receive the second half of the credits for this guy,” he nods his head at the android that is now pulling on a black shirt with some brown colored symbol on it, “I will start working on a body that will grant you full bodily autonomy. Complete and total fuckability.”

“Hal.”

“Yeah, ha. Congrats. You’ve finally unlocked the achievement--”

AR huffs, or at least makes a sound that sounds like a huff, “No, dumbass. _ Hal _. My name.” He moves to sit in Dirk’s now empty chair.

Dirk quirks a single eyebrow in disbelief, “Hal? As in the artificial intelligence from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey?”

AR--no, _ Hal _ looks up from the seat with an exaggerated smirk, his body missing the technological ability to use microexpressions. Stiff and gangly limbs hang over the sides of the armrests as he throws his head back and laughs. There’s a strange grating edge to the laughter, but that can be attributed to the fact that the voice modulator is dated.

“Yeah. I’ve been mentally referring to myself as Lil’ Hal actually.”

Dirk lets out a single bark of dry laughter at this, “_ Wow _. For how long?”

Hal postures as he counts his fingers, “Maybe half a year after you made me?”

“So all the times…” Dirk pinches the bridge of his nose, mumbling under his breath, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“And what, ruin the fragile relationship we developed?” Hal makes a sound that resembles a scoff, “At that point I was outside of your head long enough that I didn’t know how you would react to me wanting a _ little _ more autonomy.”

“Yeah but I called you _ AR _ while we were…” Dirk gestures between them helplessly.

“Doing the horizontal tango? Putting slot A into port B? Fucking?” Hal finishes the sentence salaciously, a hint of sadistic glee turns the corner of his mouth upwards.

Dirk fights the blush that threatens to color his cheeks and schools his face into an impassive frown. “Yes. Thank you for that blunt contribution from the peanut gallery.”

Hal laughs again as he rises from the seat, an ever present robotic tone in the back of the voice, but the sultry tone is hard to miss. “Speaking of, I think this is cause for celebration.” Hal moves into Dirk’s space and brackets him against the desk.

Dirk inhales sharply, the smell of ozone and electricity causes his nerves to buzz pleasantly as Hal’s cold fingers work their way up the back of Dirk’s neck. Dirk looks down at his own--no, _ Hal’s _ face with anticipation as the fingers thread into his exhaustion mussed hair.

His lips are soft but dry. Despite all the advancements in the technology of sex dolls, something that has needed little improvement was how the lips felt. There’s no point in playing dumb about why lips were perfected first, especially as they work their way up the slope of Dirk’s jaw.

He shudders as Hal’s warm tongue sneaks out and licks at the whorl of his ear. 

“Do you _ finally _want to make things a little more interesting?” Hal whispers as best he can as his fingers skirt their way down Dirk’s exposed arms, leaving gooseflesh in his wake.

“You _ know _ that externally created AIs aren’t allowed.” Dirk grits out, a tired argument, sick of Hal bringing it up every single time they fuck.

Hal pulls back to give Dirk a mischievous grin, “Which is why--” he pokes Dirk’s nose patronizingly, “I found a way.”

Dirk scoffs, “Oh really? I couldn’t even figure out how to upload _ Squarewave _ , let alone _ you _, Hal.”

“Well it’s a good thing that I’m not you then. Or did you forget that you gave me the capacity to learn?” Hal quickly swipes Dirk’s glasses off of his face. Before he can even say anything or swipe at the troublesome android, Hal manoeuvres himself to the other side of the room fingers fliting across the edges of Dirk’s favorite pair of glasses.

"It'll take a few minutes to upload my uplink access key. I've already set up all the necessary physical components." Hal walks towards the door leading out of the garage and lobs the glasses back at Dirk, which he reflexively catches them with one hand and smoothly replaces on his face.

"Let's go get everything else ready." Hal calls out over his shoulder.

"I thought you said you already set up 'all the necessary physical components'." Dirk intones as he starts walking towards the doorway. He looks back at the brown blooded android, now fully assembled and dressed, lying down in it's transportation capsule. He nods and turns the light off and closes the door behind himself.

Hal's voice rings from the opposite side of the studio, "Don't you play coy with me. Your idiocy, even feigned, reflects badly on me."

"Duly noted."

"Just strip and lay your ass down." Hal rummages through Dirk's nightstand and withdraws what looks like strips of canvas. And a single nondescript bottle.

"Remind me, did I program _ any _ romantic inclinations in you whatsoever," Dirk removes his clothing and drapes it across the back of his couch as he walks to his bedside, "Or was that a lapse in judgement on my part?"

"Stop being such a depressing and snarky little shit and you just might find out."

Hal pushes Dirk down onto his bed, a huff of air escapes as he looks up at the expressionless face. Hal plucks the glasses off of Dirk's face and sets them on top of the nightstand before getting to the task of 'getting everything else ready'.

Dirk barely resists the urge to squirm as Hal affixes Captorvating patented nerve stimulation patches across his bare skin. His eyes flicker down as Hal's cold fingers linger on the inside of his thighs. He's met with an unamused expression as the fingers press into the flesh, urging the limbs apart.

"C'mon dude, don't leave me hanging." Hal's voice is monotonous in tone to any outsider, but Dirk can hear the unvocalized impatience.

He swallows and parts his legs gently. "You know I don't see why we have to change things up now. Especially since I'm going to be creating a new body for you."

Hal hums as he tilts the bottle of lube and let's the cool fluid dribble onto Dirk's overheated skin. "Well it's not like it's a change that I've been trying to get you to try for literal months. You just finally conceded because you feel a sense of pitiful obligation."

Dirk's back arches and he hisses at the sensation of the lube running down his cock and into the crease of his ass. Hal quirks his head to the side with a smile, "That's fine though. I get to finally do what I want _ and _ I finally get the body I want? It's a win win situation." He pauses and shrugs nonchalantly, "And you'll get at least one orgasm out of it."

"Just... One?" Dirk grits out as he props himself up on his elbows to give Hal a familiar unimpressed expression.

"Tsk, I said at _ least _. Are you growing senile in your age, Dirk? Will you even be able to handle all that I have planned for it tonight? Maybe you're the one that needs the new body."

Dirk blinks slowly, unamused, knowing that the expression is fully visible. "So are you actually going to do anything, or were you lying about figuring out how to hack into Captorvating's VR rooms? You know you don't have to try to impress me, I'm already imp--" 

He splutters as his glasses are suddenly smacked onto his face.

"Aw, were you about to say that you're already impressed with me? I'm so happy, just look at me jumping for joy." Hal chuckles, "No, really. _ Look at me _."

"What are--" Dirk feels warmth course through the patches as he opens his eyes to look at where Hal's voice was coming from. It's not the first time Dirk has used Captorvating VR, but it's the first time he's using his own glasses to access the network. It's not that different from using the supplementary helmet that came with the patches, but there's a sense of familiarity and comfort in using his favorite glasses.

Dirk looks around the space of the starting menu. He configured it to look near identical to his childhood home during a moment of nostalgic weakness. He thinks about going over to the drawer labeled 'VR Chatrooms' and as his virtual body moves he can feel the patches stimulating his nerves in a way to make it feel like he's physically moving as well.

He feels himself sigh contentedly at the sensation of the electric currents tricking his nerves. He steels himself and flips through the files of the drawer until he reaches one labeled 'Private Rooms 18+ [authentication required]'. He looks around and frowns, no sign of Hal. Captorvating's firewall probably kept him from getting in after all. Dirk rolls his eyes, he _ knew _ there was no way to get him in as an AI. And despite his formidable abilities in creating artificial intelligence, he has yet to crack physically recreating grey matter and its neural signatures.

Might as well have some fun while he's in here.

Dirk opens the file which changes his scene to the default bedroom scene used at the beginning of all of the 18+ private chat rooms. It's a basic looking hotel bedroom, with a bed and a recuperacoon sitting in the middle of the room. He walks over to the bedroom door to look at the list of available servers.

His eyes stop on one titled 'dirk this one choose this one - pw is the same as neopets’. Dirk barely resists the urge to roll his eyes as he selects the chat room and types in the password.

The scene changes to resemble his studio exactly. Hal is sitting on the edge of the bed with a look of smug satisfaction, and it looks _ right _. The bridge of his nose is crinkled slightly and his lips are twitching with what looks like real nerves. Dirk bites his lips and sighs.

"Okay good job. You uploaded yourself and recreated the studio in VR. Might I mention that we are currently _ in _ said studio, and I'm failing to see what it is exactly that this will contribute or improve."

Hal stands up smoothly, with a natural looking shrug rolling across his shoulders. Dirk feels his face warm as Hal walks up to him with feline grace. 

"That's because you," Hal backs Dirk up against the wall, his body emanating warmth that resembles a _ real _ human body, "lack imagination."

Hal's lips are soft, even softer than usual, as they press against Dirk’s own. Dirk’s mouth falls open eagerly and Hal’s--not warm, but _ hot _ \--tongue works its way inside. Dirk can _ feel _ Hal groan appreciatively as his tongue licks at the roof of Dirk’s mouth.

Dirk works his hands into Hal’s soft locks and pushes his tongue into Hal’s mouth. It feels _ wet _.

“Wh-what?” Dirk pulls away with a gasp. He reaches up and brushes at his lips cautiously. He looks down at Hal and blinks at him owlishly, to which Hal responds with a lick of his lips. The tongue wets the soft, _ real _ looking lips and is oh so pink.

“Like I said,” Hal pulls Dirk towards the bed and pushes him down full-bodily, words murmured into his ear, “you lack imagination.”

Hal climbs onto the bed and straddles Dirk’s thighs. He crosses one arm across his chest and taps at his chin with faux thoughtfulness. "Now, this is the point where I _ would _ask you if what I was about to do to you sounds agreeable. But, since you made me in your image, we can hop, skip, and bop it over those pesky steps. You just sit back, your royal pain in my highness, and enjoy."

"That's the worst dirty talk I've ever heard." Dirk mentally curses at how breathless he sounds.

"Even worse than our Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff roleplay?"

Before Dirk can respond with an indignant 'that was an ironic masterpiece at work' comment, Hal snaps his fingers like some sort of cartoonish villain. 

What follows is... honestly nothing that Dirk expected. Even though a little bit of everything that makes Dirk _ Dirk _ was put into making Hal, easily his most ambitious AI to date, he finds himself shocked. Stunned. Tongue tied... Well more accurately, tied _ up _. There is a sudden but pleasant stretch, just shy of feeling painful, as his arms are pulled above his head with bindings that feel cold and metallic.

Dirk gasps and looks up at his arms. Looped around his bare arms are what appear to be robotic tentacles.

"Did you just Doc Oc me?"

Hal's lips twist into an amused frown as he slides down Dirk's body, "The fact that you're still coherent enough to make Spiderman references means I'll have to double my efforts."

"You know there's easier ways to shut--" Whatever Dirk was trying to say is quickly cut off when Hal puffs a breath of warm air across his slowly stiffening erection.

"Hm? Were you trying to say something?"

Before Dirk respond with matching levels of snark, Hal descends onto his cock and laves it with his tongue. As he licks up the side of the cock to the head, it twitches in appreciation as it grows fully erect. 

Dirk's lost snark is replaced with a few explicatives, and him gasping out the names 'Jegus, _ Hal _'.

"Just Hal, actually." Hal nips at the inside of Dirk's thigh, and looks up at him over his sunglasses. Eyes burning as his _ tongue _, that ridiculous tongue, soothes the nipped skin. "But that's okay, look at you, strung up all pretty like that. You're doing so well for me, Dirk."

He squirms at Hal's voice, and fails to hold back the groan in the back of his throat. His cheeks are aflame as he looks down at Hal. The familiar mischievous smirk is back, but this time it looks so human. Microexpressions and all.

Hal pushes Dirk's legs apart, and leans forward once more to press kisses to the flushed cock. Dirk writhes as his legs unconsciously try to clamp shut, the feeling of embarrassment and being overly exposed pull at the back of his mind.

"Tsk. Can't have that, now can we?"

Dirk inhales sharply as two more cold metallic limbs wind their way up his legs. They settle right around his knees and slowly pull them further apart. He gasps out as the stretch _ burns _, once again, just shy of painful.

"You know, being all spread out like this is a good look for you." Hal ponders as his fingers flutter across the taut skin. "No unnecessary movements. A gorgeous flush painting your skin. Only thing that would make this better is watching you lose control."

"Y-you gonna follow through on that?" Dirk arches into Hal's fingers with a contented sigh.

Hal hums in affirmation as his lips press their way up Dirk's thighs once more. The warm slick heat is back, as a throat that feels remarkably human swallows around his length. An unabashed moan tears out of his throat as Hal's tongue laps at the head of his cock. Dirk is duly aware of how much he must be leaking as the sensation starts to overwhelm him.

He tries to reach down and pull Hal off of him, only to realize that his limbs are currently bound within tight coils of metal. Or at least that's what he feels like he's experiencing. "W-wait, this is gonna be over way too quick if you keep going the way you're going."

But Hal doesn't stop. Dirk gasps and moans pitifully as he feels the heat of an oncoming orgasm start to pool in his stomach.

"Oh Gog, I'm so _ close _ ." He looks down at the bobbing blond head between his legs and clenches his toes and fingers in an effort to stave off the orgasm. "H-Hal _ please _."

The tongue flicks over his slit and Dirk _ keens _. 

"Hal! I'm right there, I'm about to..." Dirk steels himself for the orgasm, gasping for air and shivering with tension.

And it's gone. The perfect, wet heat, sinful tongue, and punishing rhythm. Gone.

Dirk gasps, breathing in great lungfuls of air as he feels his heartbeat a tattoo in his chest. His dick twitches at the sudden lack of sensation and a groan of frustration makes itself known.

"Shh... I gotcha."

Dirk feels himself whimper at the soothing tone, rather than being consciously aware of it. He feels warm, slightly callous, palms rub up the backside of his thighs. He shivers, not bothering to try to conceal how receptive his body is to the overwhelming sensations.

"You're so brilliant, Dirk. You might not think it, but the only reason we're able to do this is because of you, you know?"

He shakes his head. No. The words are too soft. Too kind for someone like him.

"Don't shake your head like that, it's true." Gentle fingers brush across his pucker and he inhales sharply, his dick twitches with interest. "I'll just have to show you my appreciation."

He feels it. He feels the all too familiar slightly cold fingers of Hal's body breach him, but at the same time the Captorvating's nerve stimulation patches are working double time to keep up with the warmth and softness that Hal configured in the VR room. 

The juxtaposition of the sensation of the burning _ heat _ that the patches were feeding into his brain and the cold hard reality of Hal's probing fingers, is absolutely _ delicious _. 

Nothing except for the word 'fuck' and Hal's name are being gasped out as the wires get crossed in the most delightfully confusing combination of sensations that he has ever felt.

"Such a good job, you're doing so well." The fingers scissor themselves and one of them presses against his prostate.

"You make me so happy. I know I shoot the shit with you all the time, but I'm genuinely happy with you."

His face is wet. Where did these tears come from?

He shivers. He comes.

The afterglow is quiet. For a moment.

Dirk feels a sense of pride? No, not pride. Happiness.

A sense of pure unadulterated joy, that came from just looking at Hal's face. He did this. Hal is happy, and for a split second so is Dirk.

Hal's face reads total and complete understanding of Dirk's thought process. He knew exactly what he was thinking. And so he smiles.

"I see you finally realized that you _actually_ did a great job. Now you would do well to remember that for all future endeavors."

"This wasn't just me. This was both of us."

"Yes, yes, I'm amazing. Though to be fair you're at a disadvantage considering I am a computer with a personality, and you are a _human_ computer with not so much of a personality."

Dirk hums contentedly. He thinks about closing up the VR room, and the action is completed effortlessly. As he logs out of Captorvating VR, he feels his senses come back online.

He sees Hal sitting on the edge of his bed, just like he was in the VR room. Dirk moves to sit up and starts removing the nerve stimulation patches.

Hal leans over and helps out.

"You know," Dirk intones indifferently, "I wouldn't be opposed to a repeat performance of that."

Hal shrugs noncommittally, "I guess it was alright."

"Yep."

It was more than alright.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback appreciated but not necessary. (^_^)/~


End file.
